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Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in the Psychiatric Counseling of Patients Admitted With Covid-19 Infection Publisher Pubmed



Nakhaei MRS1 ; Noorbala AA2 ; Haghighi AS3 ; Arbabi M4, 5
Authors
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Authors Affiliations
  1. 1. Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Fellowship in Psychosomatics, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran
  2. 2. Professor of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  3. 3. Resident of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  4. 4. Psychosomatic Medicine Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  5. 5. Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Source: Psychiatry Research Published:2022


Abstract

Background: Covid-19 patients suffer from psychiatric disorders too. The present study was designed to investigate the rate of psychiatric consultation requests in a general hospital. Reasons for consultation requests, types of psychiatric diagnoses, and factors in consultation requests were also investigated. Methods: This cross-sectional study included all patients admitted with Covid-19 and referred to psychiatric consultation service in a major Covid-19 center in Tehran, Iran (2020). After acceing patients’ electronic files, records of patients’ demographic information, positive psychiatric symptoms, past psychiatric history and DSM5 diagnoses were made. Statistical analyses were done in SPSS 26 using descriptive statistics and chi-square and Fisher's exact test (p<0.05). Results: Out of 1791 Covid-19 hospitalized patients, 132 patients (7.3%) had been referred to psychiatric consultation service. The most common reason for requests were restlessness and aggression (23.5%). Meanwhile, 92.4% of the patients were diagnosed to suffer from at least one psychiatric disorder including insomnia (64%), delirium (30.3%), anxiety due to hypoxia (15.3%) and generalized anxiety disorder (10.6%). Conclusion: Although studies report a high prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Covid-19 patients, requests for psychiatric consultations and consideration of psychiatric disorders are still remarkably low. The most common disorders appeared to be insomnia, delirium and anxiety. © 2022